Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield

  26 May 2019

Confit salmon at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
You know when you read a menu and know that you will love it even though you haven’t seen any pics or heard from anyone who’s been? That’s how I felt when Good Living reported that Kenji Okuda (head chef Lotus Barangaroo) would be opening Japanese inspired Koku Culture Cafe in Ashfield, selling his miso pastes and soy sauce. Long story short it was everything I had hoped for and more and I have a prediction this cafe will no longer be a hidden gem!

If there’s one must order dish at Koku, it’s the torched confit Alpine king salmon fillet with Koku miso dressing & green tea noodle salad ($19) with an optional 63 degree egg ($2). Holy crap you guys! The salmon has got to be the tastiest salmon I’ve ever had! It was buttery soft and the light blowtorch char just kicked the umami into the stratosphere. And the noodles! They were slightly chilled and had a yuzu and mint dressing and it was just so refreshing and delicious! The egg was perfectly gooey but honestly I don’t think the noodles needed the richness and is perfect without it.

Wagyu at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
The seared Wagyu beef ($23) was also incredible. The Wagyu was lightly seared for that slight smokiness but was so incredibly tender and just melted in the mouth. The optional 63 degree egg ($2) works wonders on the nutty tasting buckwheat and lovingly coats the huddle of mixed mushrooms and rocket.

Rice burger at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
The crispy rice burgers comes with fries and the choice of grilled Koji chicken with Sriracha & mayo or the corn & zucchini fritter with spicy mayo but I have chosen the classic cheeseburger with Koku secret sauce ($15). The burger is quite large and requires 2 hands holding onto the crispy nori seaweed that’s wrapped around 2 rectangles of golden, crispy rice. The rice is awesome, like the crispy burnt bits you get on the bottom of a claypot rice bowl. The meat patty is not as tender as I had hoped but it’s plenty juicy and tasty with the melted American cheese and sauce. While I normally hate salad in my burgers I actually quite enjoyed the fresh lettuce and tomato but there was absolutely no way I finished the fries >.<

Pork belly at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
The twice cooked pork belly with red cabbage salad, 63 degree egg, quinoa and spicy gochujang sauce ($19) while tasty, wasn’t my favourite of the menu but to be fair I ate this on their 3rd day of trading. The pork crackle wasn’t as crispy as I had hoped and the meat while soft, wasn’t as juicy as it could be but I would totally give this another try.

Okonomiyaki fried eggs at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
There’s also an all day breakfast menu and while I don’t normally eat breakfast during the week I quite happily devoured the Wok fried eggs ($17) for lunch. The eggs were golden and gloriously crisp and surprisingly not oily and the yolky centres patiently waiting to be released from its crunchy prison. I loved the holy combo of okonomiyaki sauce and mayo and the salty hit from the bonito flakes. For once bacon was not a drawcard for me and *gasp* I don’t think it needs it.

Miso mushrooms on toast at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
I was very tempted to get the mortgage breaker of smashed avocado on toast ($16) which comes on Japanese milk toast, a poached egg, feta, shiso & Koku miso dressing but instead I’m swayed with the sautéed spicy miso butter mushrooms on sourdough ($15). It is a very generous serving with 2 slices of sourdough (sourced from Azuki Bakery in Newtown) on the bottom of a mountain of mixed mushrooms, rocket, poached eggs, mint and a sprinkle of feta. I absolutely loved the miso butter in the mushrooms, it is just such a comforting flavour and perfect for winter!

Matcha brulee pancake at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
Aaaaand I had to get the brûlée matcha pancake ($16) which was a bit denser than I expected for a pancake, with a texture more like cake. But the matcha hit was great, strong but not bitter and holds up against the blanket of custard with brûléed surface that I had fun cracking into. There’s also fruit on the side but I’m not convinced by the 2 quenelles of sour cream.

Coffee at Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield
Coffee is by Single O and there’s also hojicha latte on the menu which I cannot wait to try. So after 5 consecutive days of eating my way through the majority of the menu at Koku, I’m extremely happy for this newest edition to Ashfield!

Koku Culture Cafe
355 Liverpool Road
Ashfield

Trading Hours:
7 days: 7am – 4pm

Koku Culture Cafe Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

4 thoughts on “Koku Culture Cafe, Ashfield”
  1. Ramen Raff says:

    hahaha after seeing you go here how many days in a row, I need to try the salmon lol

  2. Lee Tran Lam says:

    I was wondering if you were going to blog about it! So great to see it covered already – what a gem! And such a bonus to have gone there on 2/3 (or is that 3/4 when you count the time we happened to bump into each other?) visits with you!

  3. Ooooooh the Brulee matcha pancake!!!!!!! Shame about the pork belly, I’m usually a sucker for a good one!

  4. Crispy rice would have to be one of my favourite word combos. lol. Also impressed by the sight of the brulee pancake. Come hither, indeed!

Leave a Comment!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *